Skip to content
TroubleGrid

Apex Legends and Starfield crash on Radeon RX 9000 cards after Adrenalin 26.8.1

Last verified October 2026Tested against AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1 (20 August 2026), AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.1 (3 September 2026), Radeon RX 9000 series (RDNA 4), Apex Legends, Starfield, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.2 (29 September 2026)Well documented

AMD fixed this in Adrenalin 26.9.1, released 3 September 2026: its release notes list the intermittent Starfield and Apex Legends crash on Radeon RX 9000 cards under Fixed Issues. Install that driver, or the newer 26.9.2, rather than rolling back to 26.7.1 — the stopgap Respawn and AMD's own 26.8.1 notes recommended, which players report worked for some and not others. If you cannot update yet, a Steam launch option that disables bindless rendering lets Apex boot on the affected driver.

Start here

  1. Confirm it is this bug and not an unrelated crash
  2. Install Adrenalin 26.9.1 or later
  3. Apex only: disable bindless rendering with a Steam launch option

This one is worth reading carefully because the advice that ranks everywhere is a month old. Between 20 August and 3 September 2026 the only answer anyone had was to go backwards to an older driver, and that is what AMD's 26.8.1 notes, Respawn's own post and every article written in that window still say. AMD has since shipped an actual fix, and it names both games.

Symptoms

  • Apex Legends closes to a fatal error reading "The application's device failed due to badly formed commands sent by the application"
  • Apex Legends crashes at launch, or shortly after shader compilation finishes
  • Starfield crashes intermittently while playing, with no consistent trigger
  • A black screen or a driver error appears immediately before the crash
  • It started after installing AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1
  • You are on a Radeon RX 9000 series card — most Apex reports are from RX 9070 XT owners

Why this happens

A regression in Adrenalin 26.8.1 on Radeon RX 9000 cards

AMD's own 26.9.1 release notes list "Intermittent game crash may be observed while playing Starfield and Apex Legends on Radeon RX 9000 series graphics products" under Fixed Issues. Putting it there is AMD saying the driver was at fault rather than either game. The 26.8.1 notes had already carried the Starfield half as a known issue, recommending 26.7.1 to anyone affected; Apex Legends never appeared in them at all, which is why the first acknowledgement players saw came from Respawn rather than from AMD.

Install Adrenalin 26.9.1 or later · Last resort: roll back to Adrenalin 26.7.1

Bindless rendering is where the conflict surfaces in Apex

The community workaround for Apex switches off three bindless-rendering options in the engine, and doing so lets the game boot on the affected driver. That points at bindless rendering — where the GPU reaches shader resources without the CPU mediating each access — as the code path involved. Treat it as a strong hint rather than a confirmed cause: neither AMD nor Respawn has published a technical explanation, and it says nothing about why Starfield crashes on the same driver.

Apex only: disable bindless rendering with a Steam launch option

Fixes

Confirm it is this bug and not an unrelated crash

about 3 min

Three details separate this from an ordinary game crash: the card, the driver version, and the exact error text.

Applies to: Radeon RX 9000 series (RDNA 4), Windows 10, Windows 11

  1. Open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition and read the driver version it reports. This bug is in 26.8.1, released 20 August 2026.
  2. Check your GPU model. AMD scopes both crashes to Radeon RX 9000 series cards. The Apex reports are concentrated on the RX 9070 XT, and there is no confirmation that every RDNA 4 card is affected.
  3. For Apex, read the error text on the crash dialog. This bug produces one specific message. A different message means a different problem and this page will not help.
    The application's device failed due to badly formed commands sent by the application. This is a design-time issue that should be investigated and fixed.
  4. For Starfield, what AMD documents is an intermittent crash while playing. There is no error dialog to match against, so the driver version and the card are all you have to go on.

Confirmed by the vendor.

Source: AMD, AMD, PC Gamer

Install Adrenalin 26.9.1 or later

about 15 min

This is AMD's own fix. 26.9.1 lists both crashes under Fixed Issues, so it addresses the cause rather than working around it.

Applies to: Radeon RX 9000 series (RDNA 4), Windows 10, Windows 11

  1. Get AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.1 from AMD's release-notes page for that version, or from the update check inside AMD Software. It is an optional release, so a machine set to take only recommended drivers will not be offered it automatically.
  2. Or take the newer 26.9.2, released 29 September 2026, which is the current optional release and carries the same fix. Either version is past the bug; there is no reason to seek out 26.9.1 specifically if 26.9.2 is what AMD offers you.
  3. Install it and restart if the installer asks you to.
  4. Launch the game and confirm the crash is gone.
  5. On Windows 10, check Smart Access Memory afterwards. 26.9.1 still carries the separate open bug where installing a driver silently switches SAM off.
  6. If you added the Apex launch options below as a stopgap, remove them now — they cost a little performance and are no longer needed.

Confirmed by the vendor.

Source: AMD, PC Gamer, AMD

Apex only: disable bindless rendering with a Steam launch option

about 3 min

For when you cannot install 26.9.1 yet. It switches off the rendering path the crash involves, at a small performance cost.

Applies to: Apex Legends on Steam

  1. In your Steam library, right-click Apex Legends and choose Properties.
  2. Paste this into the Launch Options box, exactly as written:
    +staticprop_color_use_bindless 0 +staticprop_depth_use_bindless 0 +r_drawworld_depth_bindless 0
  3. Close Properties and start the game.
  4. Treat this as temporary. Clear the box once you are on 26.9.1 — turning bindless rendering off may cost you frames, and the driver fix makes it unnecessary.

Reported to work by 2 users; not confirmed by the vendor.

Source: PC Gamer

Last resort: roll back to Adrenalin 26.7.1

Check before applyingabout 25 min

The workaround everyone recommended before a fix existed. It is here because some machines cannot take the new driver, not because it is the better answer.

Applies to: Radeon RX 9000 series (RDNA 4)

Before you do this

This is now the worse option. Reports are split on whether rolling back actually stops the Apex crash, and going back to 28 July 2026 gives up a month of other fixes. Use it only if 26.9.1 will not install. Downgrade with the AMD Cleanup Utility as AMD instructs, and expect the screen to blank while the driver is replaced.

  1. Download AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.7.1 (28 July 2026) from AMD's previous-driver downloads first, before removing anything, so you are not left without a driver.
  2. Run the AMD Cleanup Utility, which AMD specifies when downgrading, so the newer driver leaves nothing behind.
  3. Install 26.7.1 and restart.
  4. If the crash survives the rollback, stop here rather than going further back. Some players report instability on 26.7.1 too, and some name 26.6.1 as the version that was stable for them, but the supported answer now is forward to 26.9.1.

Confirmed by the vendor, though some users report it does not help.

Source: AMD, PC Gamer

Known issues

  • AMD's Adrenalin 26.8.1 release notes (20 August 2026) list the Starfield crash on Radeon RX 9000 cards as a known issue and recommend installing 26.7.1. They never listed Apex Legends at all. AMD's 26.9.1 notes (3 September 2026) list both games together under Fixed Issues.

    Affects AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.1 · Status: fixed

  • Respawn acknowledged the Apex Legends crash on 26 August 2026 through the Apex Legends Japanese community account on X, said the cause was under investigation, and asked affected players to roll back to 26.7.1. That advice predates AMD's fix and has not been publicly withdrawn, which is why most coverage still repeats it.

    Affects AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1 · Status: fixed

  • The driver you are moving to carries its own open known issues. As of 26.9.2 (29 September 2026) AMD still lists Smart Access Memory switching off after a driver install on Windows 10, and the AI Bundle components failing to install in regions with limited access to HuggingFace and GitHub. The Anti-Lag 2 issue 26.9.1 carried is fixed in 26.9.2, which adds two new entries: a crash in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on RX 7000 cards, and a War Thunder driver timeout on RX 5000 cards.

    Affects AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.1, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.2 · Status: open

If none of this worked

This page covers one driver regression on Radeon RX 9000 cards. If your card is an RX 7000 or older, if the crashes began before 20 August 2026, or if Apex shows an error other than the badly-formed-commands one, the driver version is probably not what is wrong. Crashes that only happen when you switch away from the game, and launches that go to a black screen while audio keeps playing, are different problems with their own pages. And if you are on 26.8.1 and playing both games without trouble, there is nothing here you need to act on.

Common questions

Do I still need to roll back to 26.7.1?
No. AMD's 26.9.1 driver, released 3 September 2026, lists both the Starfield and the Apex Legends crash under Fixed Issues. Rolling back was the stopgap while no fix existed, and reports on whether it actually stopped the Apex crash were mixed.
Why isn't Apex Legends in AMD's 26.8.1 known issues?
It never was. AMD documented only the Starfield half of the problem. The Apex acknowledgement came from Respawn on 26 August, and AMD's notes did not name the game until the 26.9.1 Fixed Issues list on 3 September — an eight-day gap in which the game developer had confirmed a driver bug the driver vendor had not.
Does this affect every RX 9000 card?
AMD scopes both crashes to "Radeon RX 9000 series graphics products", which is the whole family. In practice the Apex reports cluster on the RX 9070 XT, and there is no confirmation that an RX 9070 or RX 9060 XT will crash. If you are not seeing crashes, this is not a reason to change drivers.
Will the launch options hurt my frame rate?
Possibly a little. They turn off bindless rendering, which exists for performance. Coverage that tested them describes a minor impact and a game that boots and plays normally. Clear them once you are on 26.9.1.
26.9.1 is an optional driver. Is it safe to install?
Optional in AMD's numbering means it is not the default recommended release, not that it is a beta. It is the release that carries this fix. On Windows 10, check Smart Access Memory after installing — that is a separate open bug in the same driver.
I rolled back and Apex still crashes.
That matches what several players reported at the time, and some of them found 26.6.1 more stable than 26.7.1. Rather than going further back, move forward to 26.9.1, which is the release AMD actually fixed this in.

Did this fix work?

If a step is wrong, outdated, or did not help, telling us is the fastest way to get it corrected. Reports are reviewed before new articles.

Report a problem with this page

Related problems

Sources

  • AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1 Release NotesOfficial

    AMD · Release notes · checked Oct 1, 2026

    • Adrenalin 26.8.1 (20 August 2026) lists the intermittent Starfield crash on Radeon RX 9000 series cards as a known issue and recommends installing 26.7.1
    • The 26.8.1 release notes do not mention Apex Legends
  • AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.1 Release NotesOfficial

    AMD · Release notes · checked Oct 1, 2026

    • Adrenalin 26.9.1 (3 September 2026) lists the intermittent Starfield and Apex Legends crash on Radeon RX 9000 series cards under Fixed Issues
    • 26.9.1 still lists Smart Access Memory being disabled after install on Windows 10, the AI Bundle install failure, and the Anti-Lag 2 issue as known issues
  • AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.2 Optional Driver Release NotesOfficial

    AMD · Release notes · checked Oct 1, 2026

    • Adrenalin 26.9.2 (29 September 2026) is the current optional release and is later than the 26.9.1 fix
    • 26.9.2 lists the Anti-Lag 2 issue under Fixed Issues
    • 26.9.2 still lists Smart Access Memory being disabled after install on Windows 10 and the AI Bundle install failure as known issues
    • 26.9.2 adds known issues for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on Radeon RX 7000 cards and War Thunder on Radeon RX 5000 cards, recommending 26.9.1 for the latter
  • Apex Legends is getting fatal error crashes with RX 9070 XT GPUs, but there is a workaroundReputable

    PC Gamer · News · checked Oct 1, 2026

    • Respawn acknowledged the Apex Legends crash on 26 August 2026 and asked affected players to roll back to 26.7.1 while it investigated
    • Some players replying to Respawn reported that rolling back did not resolve the crash
    • The Steam launch options that disable bindless rendering let Apex boot on the affected driver
    • An update appended on 4 September 2026 confirms AMD's optional driver fixes the crash, verified firsthand by the author